As background, carbon monoxide may be produced by the combustion of many different types of fuels such as, for example, gasoline, diesel fuel, and natural gas. The combustion of these fuels may take place in automobile engines, heaters, boilers, and in many other types of machines and apparatuses. Due to environmental or other reasons, it may be desirable to abate the amount of carbon monoxide produced by the combustion of these fuels. Existing abatement systems such as, for example, regenerative thermal oxidizers may be relatively expensive to install and may only be able to abate the level of carbon monoxide in the exhaust stream by about 90% or less.
Accordingly, a need exists for alternative systems and methods for abating carbon monoxide in exhaust streams which are both cost-effective to install, cost-effective to operate, and can abate the carbon monoxide level by 90% or more.